


Falling for Freedom

by virgilistic



Series: Tumblr One-Shots by Me [7]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Ability to control fire, Ability to control ice, Blood, Genentic Experimenting, Guns, M/M, Mention of Wings, facilities, gunshot wound, moxiety - Freeform, of the bad variety, powers, scientists - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 03:44:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15677373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virgilistic/pseuds/virgilistic
Summary: For the longest time, Virgil dreamed of freedom. He wanted more than the tall, blank walls that surrounded him.And then, someone from outside came.





	Falling for Freedom

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, this ones got a little less quality, guys.  
> I wrote this in an attempt to break out of my writers block and I’m not sure it worked.  
> Either way, here it is!
> 
> Make sure that you’re safe! Heed the tags!
> 
>  
> 
> TW: experiment facility, tests and experiments, sickness, mention of panic attack.

  
For as long as he could remember, the one thing Virgil craved most was freedom.

All he’d ever known were the high, high walls of his white, empty ‘room’ and the thin winding hallways of the facility.

He’d never been outside.

For a while, he entertained the thought that there _was_ no outside.

That the facility was all that existed.

But then… someone else came.  
Someone new.

They were dragged in kicking and screaming, tears falling from their eyes even as they fought with all their strength.

It scared Virgil.

What emotions fueled them?

What made them fight? What was worth enough that they would endure the punishment that awaited them?

Virgil had thought he’d never get answers.

But that wasn’t what happened.

When Virgil was dragged back to his room, exhausted from the tests and experiments, the new kid was there, huddled in Virgil’s corner.

Virgil collapsed on the floor as soon as the scientist let go of his wrist, not bothering to cushion his fall as his knees buckled.

Virgil curled into a ball. He didn’t have the energy to crawl to the cheap cots provided, and it wasn’t as if there was much of a difference anyways…

He whimpered at the touch of a hand on his arm, tensing as much as his exhausted muscles would allow.

“I’m sorry,” a voice said quietly. “I should have said something. Can I help you to the cot?”

Virgil peeked one eye open. The new person looked older than him, and their face was much more relaxed than it had been earlier. What emotion was that?

Virgil gave a shaky nod.

This person couldn’t hurt him any more than the scientists, right?  
The other person gave a twist of his lips and Virgil let his curled position fall apart.

“My name is Patton,” the other person said as they linked their arms under Virgil’s. “What’s yours?”

“Virgil. But they don’t call us by our names here.”

“What do they call you?”

Virgil reached up and pointed to Patton’s lips, still turned up.

“What’s that called?” He asked instead.

Patton blinked in shock,

something clouding in his eyes.

“What do you mean, Virgil?” He asked.

“You’re doing something with your mouth. What is it?”

Virgil heard Patton’s breath hitch and tilted his head.

“Are you talking about a smile, Virgil?”

Virgil shrugged. “I guess so.”

“How long have you been here, Virgil?” Patton asked quietly.

“Forever.”

Virgil answered without hesitation. He knew this with the same certainty he knew that the walls were blank or that the cot he was sitting on was hard.

Patton shook his head. “Oh, kiddo. Someday, I promise you’ll get to see the beauty of the world. Until then, we’re gonna learn how to keep our smile, okay? I’ll be a brother of sorts. A father?”

“What are those?”

“Family. People who love you no matter what you do or who you are.”

“That sounds nice.” Virgil said softly, but he shook his head as he looked up to meet Patton’s eyes.

“I just want a friend.”

Patton nodded quickly, tearing up a little.

Virgil knew there was an outside now, and just how much he didn’t know.

And with that grew a new desire - one for knowledge.

Living in the same space as Patton gave him plenty of opportunities to ask questions.

He learned that the smile Patton usually wore was supposed to be a sign of happiness. He learned that the emotion that clouded Patton’s eyes sometimes was sadness, that when he cried, he was sad.

He learned that Patton had a life outside the facility before he was dragged in.

He learned of time. With Patton, Virgil learned how to calculate the passage of time.

Months, _years_ passed.

Patton became Virgil’s only friend.

They took care of each other.

Eventually, the experiments the scientists conducted started having… effects.

Fire erupted from Patton’s hands at his strongest emotions. He became sick with fever, trembling and weak on his cot. Virgil did his best to cool him down, but...

There was very little he could do.

A week later, Patton’s fever broke and he started having nightmares. Virgil began to ignore his cot in favor of sitting by Patton’s side.

A month later, Virgil got sick as well. Chills wracked his body and he his teeth chattered as he trembled. His hands were cold and he felt nauseous. Just like before, there was very little Patton could do to help besides be there.

They never left each other’s side, and eventually the sickness left.

The lingering symptoms of each… Virgil was constantly cold. Patton, well. He was the opposite.

When Patton turned sixteen, he and Virgil shared an experience.

They grew wings.

The wings were weak, and frail. Barely there, and painful to the touch, but they were there.

The scientists were overjoyed. Virgil… he and Patton were miserable. The tests and experiments doubled. Their only reprieve was during what they assumed was night.

Months, once again, passed.

Patton had fire sprouting from his fingers and fluffy grey wings steadily growing on his back.

Virgil did his best not to use the ice that came freely at his call.

The wings on his own back were black, smaller than Patton’s, but growing just the same.

They counted the days.

During the nights, they talked.

Or, Virgil asked questions and listened to Patton talk.

“What was your family like?”

“Big, and warm. We were a close family. I have a little brother. I’d bet you two are pretty close in age. I bet Mom is super worried. I wonder if they still miss me sometimes, but, well. They aren’t the kind to forget family.”

“What it like? Outside?”

“It’s beautiful. The sun is high in the sky and it’s so warm, Virgil. Then there’s the grass and the trees… there’s so much color, Virgil.”

Rarely, Virgil would ask the questions that bounced around deep in his mind. Ones that… he knew didn’t have real answers.

“Do you think anybody will find us?” He would ask.

“What if we never escape?”

Patton would always shake his head at these questions, wrapping Virgil in a gentle hug.

“Only time will tell.”

And it did.

Virgil and Patton counted the months. The tests transitioned.

Both boys came back bruised and bloody each day.

They counted days.

When Patton was 19, everything changed.

It started quietly. Patton and Virgil’s door opened and a scientist beckoned.

“Subject MR1505, follow me.”

Virgil gave Patton’s hand a squeeze and nervously watched him walk off. The door closed with a heavy finality, and Virgil sank onto the cot.

His and Patton’s wings were both fully formed by now.

They were… big, definitely. Virgil could wrap his wings around Patton with much room to spare, and vice versa. He and Patton had practiced flying in the high ceiling room they shared, and the wings were large and sturdy enough to hold them up easily. Virgil’s wings were longer than his body.

But in his free time, Virgil usually messed around with ice.

After accidentally freezing everything in their room during an… especially harsh panic attack, he’d been trying to get more control.

It didn’t help that using the ice left him… weak, muscles turned into jelly.

However, not 10 minutes after Patton left, a resounding ‘boom’ rang out, shaking the facility and sending Virgil’s heart racing.

What was that?

Was Patton okay?

Was that Patton?

What was it?

He could hear the yelling of the scientists and smell the smoke. Something clanged heavily on the door, caving it in. Virgil’s heart dropped.

A piece of the wall had collapsed, bending the steel door of the room.

Virgil crept up to the door and took a deep breath before peeking through a crack that remained between the door frame and the broken wall.

Scientists had guns out and were shooting wildly at…

Subjects. People just like Virgil, of all ages and ethnicities and… well, they didn’t all look completely human. All identifiable by the completely white, standard clothes they wore.

But more than that, there were others. Wearing masks and armed with guns of their own.

Virgil could have cried. At last, someone had come.

He sank down to the floor. His door was blocked and caved and… he couldn’t get through. He was stuck. The rooms were reinforced. No explosion could get through the walls on the inside of the rooms, no matter how demolishable the walls of the facility hallways were.

Virgil gave a wet laugh, digging his palms into his eyes.

He could only hope that Patton got out.

“... _irgil_!”

Virgil gave a huff of breath, curling his wings close to his back. That was Patton’s voice.

“Virgil!”

Patton was outside, staring through the crack.

He reached his hand through the crack and Virgil grabbed it.

“Patton, you’ve gotta get out before they get you. They’re shooting, Patton.”

“I’m not leaving you here, Virgil.” Patton’s voice was determined, wobbly as it was.

“You have to, Patton.” Virgil pleaded. “Please. Find your family.”

“ _You’re_ my family, Virgil.” Patton cried, hand tightening around Virgil’s.

Virgil shook his head.

“You have to go, Pat. You have a life out there, and a family who is worried sick and-“

“I made a _promise_ , Virgil! I said I’d show you the outside, right? I said I’d get you _out_ of here!”

Patton was yelling now, tears falling down his face the same way they were when he was first dragged into the facility when he was eleven. Virgil knew what they meant now, though.

“How, Patton?” He asked, voice choked and soft. “The wall… there’s no way. You have to go, Patton.”

Patton looked around frantically, wiping hastily at his eyes.

“I… your ice. Use your ice to push it.”

“I can’t control it, Patton. I could just as easily freeze you.”

“It’ll be okay. I have fire. I’ll just melt it.”

Virgil looked skeptical but he nodded.

“I trust you, Patton.”

He took a few steps back, hands trembling as he raised them into the air.

Slowly, he let out a shaky breath.“Okay… one, two, three…”

He fired a sheet of ice into the wall, focusing on pushing even as he felt the room behind him drop in temperature, the ice slowly trailing towards Virgil’s feet.

“Patton, it’s not going to-“

“Yes it will!”

Patton was determined, and Virgil looked over once to meet his eyes. Virgil nodded, entire body shaking and weak, and gave a last-ditch shove to move the wall.

He closed his eyes and felt fear strike through him as his knees started to fall out from under him.

Instead of the cold ground though, he was caught by warm hands, even warmer against Virgil’s chilled skin.

“I’ve got you, Virge. We’ll be okay, we’re gonna get out.”

Virgil gave a weak hum as Patton hooked and arm under his knees and behind his back

“I’m glad, Patton.” He mumbled burying his face into Patton’s shoulder.

“Subjects MR1505 and AX0719, stop immediately or we will not hesitate!”

Virgil exchanged a glance with Patton.

No. He wouldn’t let this… monster, steal Patton’s freedom.

Even if it meant he’d never get it himself.

Virgil gave a sharp wiggle and struggled out of Patton’s grasp, falling to his hands and knees.

He struggled to his feet, leaning heavily on the wall and raising a hand weakly. He shouldn’t use the ice, he’d already overexerted himself…

But for Patton, he didn’t care. Virgil watched with hazy, uncomprehending eyes as the scientist lifted her gun. She raised it, first aiming towards Patton.

Virgil shot ice in her direction and winced as he felt an ice-hot pinprick of pain slowly grow from his torso.

He made sure to encase her body in the ice, her head the only thing sticking out.

Patton’s face was blurry in front of Virgil, and Virgil could only hear faint mumbling.

The next thing he knew, he was moving again.

Patton was getting blood on his white clothes…

Virgil surrendered to the darkness at the edge of his mind.

Patton was free of the facility.  
That was enough.

When Virgil woke, It was dark, and warm.

He was never warm, something had to be…

He opened his eyes further and set about scanning the room.

Something warm and smoky crackled. Virgil figured it was what Patton called ‘fire.’

It was warm.

A blanket was over him, and a dull pain radiated from his side.  
Virgil sat up, wincing as the pain sharpened before retreating once again.

Where… where was Patton?

“Patton..?” He mumbled, eyes still adjusting to the darkness.

From his left, he heard the shuffling of feet, and then Patton was in front of him. He was dressed in beige pants and a blue shirt, and had some form of long-sleeved grey shirt around his shoulders. New, black rimmed glasses sat on his nose, and when he smiled at Virgil, it was more genuine than Virgil had ever seen it.

He smiled back.

Three years later, Patton was back with his family and Virgil, well, he was staying with them.

Turned out, his real parents had passed away long ago.

Virgil’s real name was Virgil Lighn, and he was 20 years old.

Virgil had hesitantly admitted that he thought he loved Patton a year later, and Patton nearly burst with nervous happiness on their first date.

They weren’t… okay. The things that happened at the facility haunted their dreams as well as their daily life, but, well.

They understood each other.  
They would always be there to offer the other a shoulder to lean on.

They weren’t okay, but they were living. They were free.

 


End file.
